Always There For Her
by TX549
Summary: Cassie reminisces about the impact SG1 has had on her - Takes place within the Family Line.
1. School Pickup and Ice Cream

The small, quiet red-head looked up when she noticed a shadow loomed over her. Her face broke into a smile. "Jack!" she said excitedly as she got up and ran to him and threw her arms around him.

Jack smiled as he absorbed the impact and reached down and hugged the girl. "Hi there, Sweetie."

"What are you doing here?" Cassie asked, looked up at him. Suddenly her face got serious and she pulled back and glanced around. "Where's Mom?" She asked anxiously.

Jack kneeled down to look her in the eye. Cassie saw a strange look, almost as if he was in pain when he kneeled. She heard a popping noise come from his knees.

"Well Cass, she is still at work and asked if I could pick you up from school." Jack replied.

Cassie looked thoughtful a moment. As if she was deciding she was getting the whole story. Already, since coming here, she had noticed there were times that she was not told everything. At first, it had really bothered her. Her mom had once told her it was to protect her from as much of the nastiness of the universe as possible and hopefully have a normal childhood from now on. Cassie was not sure how much more nasty things could be than losing her entire family, her entire planet to the Goa'uld and then be turned into a bomb. But Janet had quickly picked up on the fact that Cassie, who had bonded with all of SG-1, got very agitated and withdrawn if she found out something had happened to them, so she made a point to protect Cassie from some of what went on at the SGC. Of course none of SG-1 dared do anything but follow the diminutive little doctor's example, less they incur her wrath.

"But she is okay, right?" Cassie asked, anxiety creeping in her voice.

Jack smiled at her as he took her hand and led her to his truck. "Yes, Sweetie, she is fine. She just had to finish treating someone and turn it over to the next shift and she didn't want you sitting here wondering."

"Oh." Cassie replied. She looked thoughtful again. "What about Sam?"

Jack laughed. "Everyone is fine. In fact, Sa—Carter is headed home as we speak to change, then she is coming over to visit with you and you mom when Doc gets done."

Cassie smiled. She glanced up at Jack. She had noticed his almost using Sam's first name. "So….you are going to visit with us too right?"

"I will probably give you women a night to yourselves." Jack replied.

"Come on Jack, you can stay. Besides, Sam would probably love to have you stay."

Jack unlocked the door on the truck. "Cassie, I am sure Sam wants to visit your with you and your Mom. She doesn't want me in the way."

Cassie noticed his face was beginning to flush. "Jack, we could watch a movie. All of us." She already had it in her mind how she was going to get Jack and Sam to sit together on the couch.

Jack sighed as he helped Cassie into the truck and handed her backpack to her. "We will see, Cass."

As they drove Jack contemplated how to get out of sitting and watching a movie with Sam while Cassie sat contentedly looking out the window. As they came up to a stop sign, a mischievous gleam came to her eye. "Sam is pretty, isn't she?"

Jack slammed on the brakes and the truck skidded to a halt. "What?"

Cassie glanced over at Jack. "Oh, I just said Sam is very pretty, isn't she?"

Jack looked at her closely, trying to figure out where this was going. Cassie merely looked back innocently. The car behind Jack beeped and he was forced to return his attention to the road as he pulled away. "Uh, yes, she is pretty."

Cassie noticed he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. She could tell the feelings that Jack and Sam had for each other. She did not understand why they went to such great lengths to hide it. All her mom had said was they had to be professional, whatever that meant. Well as far as Cassie was concerned, they needed to be happy and she was to going to do what she could to help them see they were happiest together.

Since Janet had made Cassie memorize the route to the house, she noticed Jack turned several blocks before the turn to her house.

He smiled. "Ice Cream?"

"You betcha!"


	2. Helping Mom, Homework, and New Friends

"Daniel!" Cassie squealed when she opened the door.

"Hi there Hon..umph!" Daniel began as he absorbed the impact of Cassie's excited hug. Jack had taken to calling them full-contact hugs. Whenever Cassie was excited, she tended to forget to slow down when she moved to give someone a hug. Now that she was growing and gaining a little more weight, the impacts had more jolt. Only Teal'c seemed to not notice them, although Daniel had to admit, all of SG-1 found it humorous that the most fearsome and intimidating person in the SGC allowed himself to be man handled by the pretty, small-framed red head.

"I am glad you came by." Cassie stated.

"Well, I wanted to see you, your mom said you needed help with some history homework, and I have something I need to tell you." Daniel said, trying to maintain his balance.

Cassie pulled back. "Is everything okay? She glanced at the driveway. She looked back at Daniel. "Where's Mom?"

Daniel smiled. "Janet's fine. She is treating a guy who had some electrical burns. She will be home shortly."

"Electrical burns? Siler?"

Daniel paused, shocked that Cassie would know immediately who he was talking about. He smirked. Siler will be thrilled to know his reputation was spreading. "Yes, it's Siler. You need to be careful about showing off your knowledge in public though." Daniel cautioned as they headed inside.

"I don't talk about it with anyone, it's just every time I have visited Mom at work, Siler is in there being treated for something." Cassie said. She did not mention that usually when she visited the mountain, it was to see a member of SG-1 in the infirmary. At first, Janet had tried to dissuade those visits, but she realized that if Cassie found out a member of SG-1 was hurt, she became agitated and quite the handful to deal with until she saw them and verified to her own satisfaction they would be okay. Luckily, General Hammond had a soft spot for Cassandra and allowed the visits without any fuss. He even managed to always find time to visit with Cassandra and talk with her.

Daniel chuckled. "Well, he does seem to get injured a lot."

Cassie laughed. "He doesn't die."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "I see Jack has too much influence on you."

Cassie giggled. "Mom says the same thing."

Daniel looked around the room, then back at Cassie. "So….about Jack…it seems that he ended meeting some new little friends….."


	3. Parking Lot Meet

"Sam!"

Samantha Carter turned to the sound. She knew who was calling her name. She saw a red headed blur moving in her direction across the parking lot. Sam suddenly remembered she had her Christmas shopping in the bags she was carrying. Some of it was fragile. _Oh crap._

She just managed to set the bags on the ground and straighten somewhat when she felt the impact as Cassie's arms wrapped tightly around her.

"Umph…..Hey there Cass, how are you Baby?" Sam asked as she struggled to maintain balance.

"I'm good. I missed you." Came the reply as Cassie snuggled against her.

Sam giggled. "Cass, you and I just saw each other three days ago." Sam stroked the young woman's hair while maintaining the hug. She noticed Janet walking up to them with a smirk on her face.

"Hi Sam. I see you have been shopping."

Sam smiled. "Yeah, had to get it done while we had downtime."

Janet nodded. She had just signed off on the paperwork releasing Colonel O'Neill from the infirmary. While she would have preferred one more day of observation, she was pretty sure he would have snuck out against her orders and her staff had let her know they would help him, just to get rid of him. He was such a lousy patient.

Janet glanced at the bags sitting on the pavement behind Sam's car. She was well aware of Cassie's propensity to hug with force of an NFL linebacker so she was glad to see Sam had managed to safely put her stuff down. Now that Cassie had hit a few growth spurts, though still small framed, she actually had some size and weight to factor in.

Cassie finally released Sam and looked up at the beautiful blonde. "Whatcha doing?"

"Just finishing shopping and guess I need to eat. Would you guys like to join me?" Sam replied.

"Sweet!"

Sam glanced at Janet, who was rolling her eyes. They both knew who the young girl had gotten that phrase from.

After stowing all the shopping bags in Sam's car, they began to walk to the restaurant area of the shopping center.

"So Sam, you ARE going to be in town for my birthday this year, right?" Cassie asked.

Sam giggled as Janet again rolled her eyes. "Your sixteenth? Wouldn't miss it. As 'Murray' says, undomesticated equines could not keep me away."

Cassie laughed as the three walked to the door.

"So, is this Dominic guy going to be there?"

"Mom! You told?!"

"Hey, at least no one has told your uncles yet." Came the reply

The last thing heard before the door to the restaurant closed was a small voice asking, "They won't hurt him will they?"


	4. The Big Protector

The gathering was in full swing. Of course, since it was primarily a lot of high school kids, there was also a lot of adult supervision running around, keeping an eye on things and trying their best to ensure there was no alcohol and funny business going on. The man looked around and noticed the tall, distinguished leader of his team leading two teens from out from under the bleachers, his hand firmly gripping the male's shoulder, as if preventing escape, while the young female walked sheepishly beside them. He turned his attention back to the students dancing on the floor of the studio. He was particularly watchful of the small framed red head dancing off to the left.

Sam watched as O'Neill led his two charges to refreshment counter. He looked over at her. "Here Carter, these two need something very cold to dowse their heated libidos."

Sam could not help but notice the young woman looked like she wanted to crawl under the table. She grinned. "Okay, I got them." She replied as she handed out two drinks and indicated they needed to sit.

The boy looked like he wanted to say something but one look from Jack silenced him. Sam chuckled. "At least he did not turn you over to school admin."

The boy and girl exchanged a glance, then both nodded.

Jack meanwhile turned his attention back to the dance floor where he saw Daniel expertly slip between two kids he evidently felt could use a bit more space between them. Being Daniel, it was done expertly and quietly, with a small statement of some kind made, no doubt diplomatically, and then the two resumed their dancing, albeit a little further apart. Jack glanced over to see Teal'c. He could not help but smile. The big Jaffa was taking in everything, but his primary attention resided on Cassie and her date. The students gave him wide berth and the few times he interacted to separate them or suggest they remain out from behind dividers or under the bleachers, he got no argument and no attitude. Already one teacher had commented on asking Cassie if her uncle would like to be a teacher's aide. Jack turned back to Sam and nodded and went back out to patrol the area.

Cassie was having a pretty good time. She missed Dominic. Since his parents had moved, they had tried making a long distance relationship work, but it had faltered. They remained in contact, but it was becoming less and less frequent. When Mike had asked her to go to the dance, she had at first, not been wanting to go, she did not know him that well, but she finally decided she would. She could not hide forever from life. She still missed Janet greatly, and Sam and Jack were both doing their best, with Teal'c and Daniel helping out as well, but Cassie still remained in her shell, much quieter and less willing to put her feelings out, lest they get crushed yet again.

She had admittedly been shocked to find Sam and Jack were going to chaperone the dance, but she was honest with herself enough to admit it was a comfort to have them there. She had noticed they were both making double effort to ensure someone was available to Cassie at all times. Daniel and even Teal'c stopped by more than ever to talk with her, help with homework, or whatever. As the dance ended, Cassie grinned at the thought of the beginning of the dance, when the chaperones were introduced. Most of her class were familiar with Jack and Sam, and some had even talked to Daniel, in fact one of Cassie's best friends had asked Cassie if he was single once. But few had seen Teal'c, and even less had ever him speak, so when he walked in and was introduced as Murray, his imposing presence, not to mention his serious look, had caused some of Cassie's classmates to gasp. Cassie had noticed throughout the night that the students pretty much avoided Teal'c and walked well around where he stood stoically observing. The few times he has spoken to the students, the affect was immediate and acted upon without the normal teenage smart aleck responses.

She realized Mike was talking to her. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I asked if you would like to go out and get some air?" Mike repeated.

Cassie looked at the door a moment and something about Mike's tone made her nervous. "Why don't we just grab a drink instead."

Mike frowned but followed her to the drink table and picked up two drinks, handing her one. He then led Cassie over to an area where tables and furniture were stacked in the corner.

"You look very pretty Cassie."

"Thank you"

He leaned in to kiss her. Cassie moved slightly to the left and back. She was discomforted to find the tables stacked behind her stopped her from moving more.

"What's the matter, you don't like me?" Mike asked.

"I like you fine Mike, but that does not mean I want to kiss you."

Cassie realized they were in a corner that was somewhat darkened and would be hard to see from the dance area. She also realized Mike was between her and way back. She began to get apprehensive.

"Come on Cass, a little kiss won't hurt. What's the harm?" Mike insisted and leaned in again, this time his hand reaching up to her chest.

Cassie's managed to reach up and stop his hand before it got to her chest, and lean back to avoid the kiss, but she was still snared by his arm on her waist. "Mike, stop! Let me go please. I mean it."

Mike merely leered at her. "You are so cute when you are upset." He began to step forward when he suddenly winced in pain as a huge hand reached around from behind and clamped down onto his throat and squeezed.

"I will be very upset if you hurt Cassandra Frasier." Teal'c's baritone voice spoke out.

Mike merely stared and gasped for air as the big Jaffa turned Mike to face him. His hands shot up to grab at Teal'cs hand on this throat but the iron grip did not budge.

Teal'c glanced over at Cassie, who looked visibly relieved. "Are you injured Cassandra Fraiser?" He questioned as he looked her up and down.

Cassie shook her head as she walked closer to Teal'c. "No, he didn't hurt me. Just tried to get a little…handy"

Teal'c returned his attention to Mike. His eyes narrowed. "Cassandra Fraiser is very special to me. I am well within my bounds to punish you for disrespecting her."

Mike was by now unable to reply. Cassie realized Teal'c was in fact chocking the life out him. She quickly stepped forward and placed her hand gently on the Jaffa's arm. "It's okay. He didn't hurt me. Don't kill him. He is not worth it."

At first, Cassie was afraid Teal'c really would kill Mike. She saw his eyes shift to her, then back to Mike, and suddenly, he let go. "Very well."

Mike dropped to the floor and began gasping for air. As he lay there gasping, Cassie leaned over him whispered something to him, then turned to Teal'c. "Come on, let's go back."

Teal'c nodded and fell in step with her. Cassie was shaken, and grateful for the stoic warrior's presence. When they got to closer to the main area, where the people were, Teal'c paused.

"Are you sure you are okay?"

Cassie smiled at him. "Yeah, it was partly my fault. I had my head up my…," She stopped and her face flushed when she realized what she had been about to say. She could already hear Sam chastising her language then getting on Jack for not watching his mouth in front of her. "Anyway, I should have been paying more attention not to get led into something I could not get out of. He was jerk. I don't know why I came with him."

Teal'c merely nodded.

"Thank you Teal'c." Cassie said suddenly and she moved to wrap her arms around him for a hug.

Teal'c wrapped his massive arms around her. "You are most welcome, Cassandra Frasier. You are very important to me. To all of us."

Cassie felt the tears well up in her eyes. She had been so closed off and introverted since Janet died, she had overlooked the love that SG-1, her extended adopted family, tried to give her. She relished the moment in Teal'c's comforting embrace, then stepped back and smoothed her dress.

"Teal'c, may I ask a favor?"

"You may ask anything Cassandra Fraiser."

Cassie smiled. "Can we…uh….keep this between us for now? Sam and Jack already gave me grief over even talking to Mike, I do not want to hear it again over this."

Teal'c looked at her studiously a moment. "You know that Colonel Carter gets very…irritable if she thinks anyone of us does not bring to her immediate attention anything that concerns you."

Cassie's face fell. "Yeah….I know…I guess."

Teal'c gazed at her. "However, I think this once, we can avoid bringing the subject up. However, he may choose to do so."

Cassie grinned, then tip toed to kiss Teal'c on the cheek. "Thanks, Teal'c." She then looked back to see Mike slowly walking toward the dance area, rubbing his neck. "Don't worry about him saying anything though. What I whispered to him was that if mentioned anything to anyone, me and some of my girlfriends would tell people he is very lacking in the…uh….men's department."

Teal'c merely raised an eyebrow as Cassie walked over to Sam and Jack.


	5. Cars and Teens

Cassie glanced over at Sam, who was trying not to be noticed as she inspected the car. Cassie returned her attention the road. She caught Sam out of her peripheral vision as she continued her visual inspection.

"Sam, it really is a good car. You know Jack would never have let me buy it if it wasn't." Cassie finally spoke, glancing in her review mirror at the grill of the big truck behind them.

"Oh, I know. He and I discussed it when you brought it home." Sam said evenly.

Cassie winced. She remembered.

When she had graduated, it was decided that she finally needed a car for college. Up until then, she had used Janet's old Honda to get around, but it had been past its prime long ago. In fact, Janet had been actively looking for a new car when she died. To a young teenager, just learning to drive though; it was perfect. Reliable, sturdy, good on gas, not too much power and small. Cassie had actually driven Jack's beast of a truck a few times, however, she had backed into a pole with it and had refused to drive it ever since. There had been no damage, but she was unsettled enough that she decided to stick to more reasonable sized vehicles for herself. But the Honda had finally begun to show its age and had started to cost her more and more in upkeep and Jack had finally announced that when she graduated, the Honda would go. He did not trust it to last at college and both she and Sam knew that Jack would absolutely not let her travel on the highway with a car he thought may breakdown in the middle of nowhere.

So the search began and after a week of looking at ads, Cassie had begun to become discouraged. There were plenty of cars, however, she was adamant about staying with a certain budget and absolutely no more but she was finding it hard to find a low mileage, well maintained car in her budget. She and Sam were discussing raising her budget, she had plenty of money from her college fund and insurance from Janet, plus the sale of the house she had been left, however, she was reluctant to spend it.

Sam sighed inwardly. Jack had threatened to just buy a car for Cassie and both he and Sam had offered to throw in money to help raise Cassie's budget, but Cassie had dug in her heels and refused the help. She was determined to make this purchase on her own. Jack had made the mistake of pointing out where he thought Cassie may have learned her stubbornness from. That had taken a lot of smooth talking and a very nice dinner to dig himself out of that hole.

Both Sam and Cassie looked up as they heard the door open and then close. Jack walked into the room.

"Cass, you are luck, Sweetheart." He announced

Cassie and Sam both raised eyebrows. "Okay Jack, I'll bite. How am I in luck?"

"I have an old friend here in town, who just happens to have a car for sale. It is a little older, however, the mileage is incredibly low, and it has been taken care of like a baby." Jack stated.

Sam looked up at him. "Jack, are you sure." She was concerned with the 'little older' part of the statement.

"Yep." He said. He then looked down at Cassie in the chair. "So, what do you think Kiddo? Ready to go look?"

Having had no luck looking at internet and paper ads, Cassie was ready for something new. "Sure."

Sam stood up as Cassie did. "Jack, who is this friend?"

Jack smirked. "What's the matter Carter? Don't trust me?"

"No, I just didn't know you had friends." Sam replied with a grin.

"Ha Ha." Jack groused. He then looked back at Cassie grabbing her purse then back to Sam. "Tom. It was his son's car."

"Oh." Was Sam's only comment.

Tom was a plumber in town that Jack had known for a very long time. Apparently he had done work for Jack before Jack was divorced and they had developed a friendship. Jack had helped Tom's son get into the Air Force. Tom had been so proud. Unfortunately, the young man had been killed in an accident, leaving Tom devastated and Jack very distraught.

It had been love at first sight. Cassie could not help but squeal when she saw it. "It is soooo beautiful."

Both Tom and Jack watched her walk around it. She looked up at Jack with a huge grin on her face.

After the test drive, tire check, under hood check etc., both she and Jack were satisfied, although Cassie had a deep suspicion Jack had already thoroughly checked out the car. They settled on the amount and Cassie wrote the check. Her first car. And she was happy as it was under her budget, although she suspected that Tom was cutting her a lot of slack due to Jack.

She got the expected lecture from Jack about responsible driving, absolutely never touching her cell phone while driving, and taking care of her car. She readily agreed and tried her best to squeeze the air out of Jack with her hug.

Sam however, had a little less enthusiasm. She came outside as Cassie pulled in the driveway and Jack pulled up to the curb.

"What do you think Sam?" Cassie asked excitedly.

Cassie's excitement calmed significantly when she saw Sam's expression.

Sam's mouth was a drawn into a thin line. She looked at the car, and then to Cassie. Finally she smiled. "It is very pretty Cassie. Why don't you go grab my camera so you can get some good pictures of it before it gets dark?"

"Okay." Cassie replied, heading into the house. Just before the door shut she heard Sam turn on Jack. "A Mustang Jack?! For a teenager?!"

Cassie quickly closed the door and went to find the camera. She thought maybe she would get some water, use the restroom, and anything other little thing she could think of to avoid stepping back out into that discussion.

Cassie glanced as Sam returned her attention to the road. Sam glanced over at her. "Okay, it is a nice car. Just you remember to be careful at college." Sam said as she turned and looked out the rear window at Jack and Daniel following in Jack's truck with Cassie's stuff packed in it. She looked back at Cassie with a wicked grin. "Okay, let's see what it will do."

Cassie looked at Sam in shock and quickly looked back at the road. She smiled. "Okay." She replied as she pushed the accelerator down.

Jack glanced over at Daniel as the Mustang suddenly roared off, leaving them looking like they were standing still.

"Sam." They both said at the same time.


	6. Back to the Present - and Ice Cream

Sitting at the desk in her office on a rare calm day, Cassie smiled to herself. She really has been lucky in her life. Yes, she had lost a lot, but she had four people, literally galactic heroes who loved her and she loved them. They had become her family and so much more. To her and her own husband and children. She also had 'adopted the newcomers' as she thought of Vala and Brigadier General Mitchell. They both meant a lot to Sam and they both had become a big part of Cassie's life.

"Cass, Baby?" A voice called to her.

Cass was pulled out of her reverie and looked up to see Samantha Carter standing in her office doorway.

"Sam!" She got up and rushed over and threw her arms around Sam.

"Umph…..I'm fine, Honey, but what about you? I called to you twice before you even looked up."

"Sorry, I was daydreaming. What are you doing here?" Cassie asked.

"Well, I am here for a briefing from General Mitchell and I thought I would come in early and take you to lunch." Sam replied.

Cassie nodded and moved to her computer. "Okay, let me lock this up." She glanced down one last time the picture album on the screen and smiled, then locker her computer. She pulled her I.D. card out and put it in her pocket and walked out with Sam, turning the light off on her way out.

"So, is Jack here too?" Cassie asked hopefully.

"Oh, he might be waiting on you with a bowl of ice cream."

"Sweet." Cassie replied as she wrapped her arm around Sam and squeezed her waist. "I love you Sam."

Sam looked at her quizzically as they walked. "I love you too, Cassie. You okay?"

"Yep, I'm great." Cassie replied and she knew that she always would be with family like this.


End file.
